Machine for spacing, tensioning, and coiling material such as wire



April 7, 1925.

c. w. WATSON MACHINE FOR SPACING, TENSIONING, AND GOILING MATERIAL SUCHAS WIRE Filed'June 20, 1923 4 Sheat-Sheet 1 April 7, 1925.

C. W. WATSON MACHINE FOR SPACING, TENSIONING, AND COILING MATERIAL SUCHAS WIRE Filed June 20, 1923 4 SheetvShet 2 April 7, 1925.

1,532,285 C. -W. WATSON MACHINE FOR SPACING, TENSIONING AND COILINGMATERIAL SUCH AS WIRE Filed'June 20, 1923 '4 Sheets-Sheet 5 April 7,1925.

C. W. WATSON MACHINE FOR SPACING, TENSIONING, AND GOI LING MATERIAL SUCHAS WIRE FilecfJune 20, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Apr. "2', 1925UNITED STATES PATEN OFFICE? CHARLES WILLIAM WATSON, OF ST. KILI DA,VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

mncnrnn iron srecme, rnnsronme, AND Corrine MATERIAL siren as wr ts.

Application filed June 20,

To all whom it may cone-cm:

Be it known that L-CHARL S /V1L IAM VVATSON, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain and Ireland, residing at 1 York Street, l iilda, in theState of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in a Machine for Spacing, 'iensioning, andCoiling Material Such as Wire; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Willenable others skilled in the art to Which it appertains, .to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to mechanism by which material such as wire may belocated in coiled form under tension and with the convolutions suitablyspaced apart for various constructional purposes, one of which is toprovide an internal reinforcement in a tubular concrete structure, notnecessarily circular in cross section,circular, oval, or irregular formsbeing producible.

Various advantages and applications of the invention Willv becomeapparent as this specification is perused. By Way of example I shallrefer to the production of a Winding of Wire upon an internal arrangement of structural members, which Would include a core. Such memberscarrying or retaining the Winding Would in the case illustrated beembedded in concrete or other plastic material, and the core would beremoved When the object Was to produce a pipe or like hollow structureby the centrifugal process.

In the centrifugal manufacture of reinforced concrete structuresdii'liculty and loss have been experienced owing to the reinforcementbecoming displacedor deformed during the centrifugal action. Theagglomerate covering the reinforcement has been thicker at someparts'tha-n at others and there has been longitudinal spreading of oralteration of pitch of the reinforcement helices or convolutions, asWell as diametral variations. Structures (pipes for instance) so madehave been found Wanting in durability, unsuitable for resistance tovolutious of predetermined pitch.

1923. Serial no, e iegrze.

h n er al liable.

In the manufacture of helically reinforced hollow structures thedistribution of the reinforcenient and the pitch of the helices shouldbe uniform, While the Winding should be concentric with the externalandinternal peripheries of the agglomerate structure, and should not'beliable to either displacement or deformation. I it A suitable tension ofreinforcement should be retained throughout, so as to rod ce structuresof uniform strength.

My invention enables structures of great strength to be made having thetensioned reinforceinent arranged to contact with keepers, bars, orretainers, both reinforcement and keepers or bars retaining a predets nn l y are,

termined'position, or substantially so, during and after the period ofcentrifugal con solidation. l

I provide means for feeding to and positioning relatively to bars, orkeepers or the equivalent, disposed around core, a tentionedreinforcement, or pluralityof reinforcements, in intimate contact Witheach other or separated as required, having con- The pitch is maintainedor at Will altered by mechanism controlling the rate of travel of areinforcement carrier and the rotation of the core portionof a rotor.

I also provide reinforcement spacing, feeding and securing means. i i IIn the specification of a concurrent application for a United StatesPatent I have described and claimed an invention entitled Reinforcementsfor concrete and the Ser. No. 646,725, filed June 20, 1923, and in thespecification of another concurrent application for a United StatesPatent I have described and claimed an invention entitled Improvementsrelating to the manufacture of articles centrifugally, Ser. No. 646,727,filed June 20, 1923.

In the accompanying drawings an embodiment of theinvention isdiagran' matically illustrated as applied .to the manufacture of a pipe by way ofexa'n'iple. The

ill)

invention however is not limited thereto, or to details which obviouslycan be modified while lreeping within the scope of my claims. Likereference characters designate corresponding parts in these views.

The ligures are as follows Figure 1 is a partly sectional elevation ofreinforcement winding mechanism at the driving end.

Fig. 2 is in continuation of the Fig. 1 reinforcement winding mechanism,showing reel and aring.

Fig. 3 is in continuation of the Fig. 2 reinforcement winding mechanism.

is an end elevation, partly, sectional, of reinforcement Winding mechanism, on line 4-4 Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of details of part of viewed at rightangles thereto.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation (left hand) of reiniorcement reel carrier.

Fig. 7 is an end elevation of screw shaft engaging mechanism.

Fig. 8 is an end elevation (right hand) reinforcement reel carrier.

The mechanism shown by higs. 1 to 4 resembles in parts a screw cuttinglathe, there being speed change gear, driving gear, and a screwtraveling shaft. 1 use such mechanism to move a reinforcementdistributor K.

Frames and 101 are mounted on supports 102, and frame 100 has a headwith pulleys 118, and any suitable change gears 103, 108, 119, 110, 111.104 are bearings which carry a screw shaft 106, which carries gear wheel108. Bearings support the carrying shaft 107.

The distributor It: is traveled by shaft 106, and includes a back plate127 having sides 125, 126. I employ in some cases an additional shaft,above shaft 106, the sides 125, 126 being extended so that thedistributor receives the support of both sharts, and is simply traveledby shaft 106.

Frame 101 carries ordinary tail centering head gear including a screwedshaft 88 and hand wheel 89 to advance or retract head 90. Within head 91is a hollow shaft free to rotate therein, formed integral with head 90and having (see Fig. 1) clutch teeth 114 engaging the. teeth 38 of anend forming member which 1 term a seat S.

Within the head 91 is a chamber 94 into which shaft 92 can be retracted,but retain-ct in required position, by known locking gear operated bythe handle 23. Within shaft 92, surrounding screw 88, is a sleeve 95retractable by rotation of shaft 88, which winds through the threadedrear end of sleeve 95. At the forward end an annular recess96 is formedinto which the tail of screw 9? carried by hollow shaft 92 enters,

thus rotatably uniting said shaft to sleeve 95.

A shaft 112 (see Fig. l) carries the head 113, having clutch members 114co-acting with clutch members or teeth 38 on the seat S, or with anysuitable recesses 31 to receive lifting hooks. By these heads 90, 113,the seats S, core C, and any other desired members are rotatablycarried, in assembled position.

Each are 72 is part of a positioning ring and is of L or other suitablecross section. As seen in Figs. 1 and 3, there is a fitting 7 8 securedto an are 72, and 81 is a lever to hold a reinforcement wire end underit against fitting 78 temporarily when required, the lever being securedby a ring 83.

Fig. 2 and Figs. 4 to 8 show bearings 124, which sustain a removablereinforcement supply reel or drum 120, having ends 121, and shafts 122,123 which revolve in bear ings 124. Bearings 180, 181 support thedistributor on screw shaft 106 and on carrying shaft 107, respectively.Upon the side of 125, are levers 128, 131, see Figs. 6 and 7, havingpivots 139, and jaws 129, 132 which have screw threaded faces to engagethe screw shaft 106; 130, 133 being intermeshing toothed quadrants.Lever 131 has an extension 134 to which is pivoted, as at 135, athreaded stem 136 carrying a locking nut 13?. Lever 128 has (see Fig. 7)an extension 138 through a slot in which stem 136 enters.

By drawing lever 131 towards lever 128 the threaded ends 129, 132 engagescrew s 1a ft 106 by the action of quadrants 133, 3 while by tighteningnut 137 on extension 138 the levers are locked together, and on shaft106. By loosening nut 13'? and throwing it clear of extension 138, andimparting an outward movement, the quadrant 133, co-acting with quadrant130, throws jaws 131 129 out of engagement with shaft 106, thus stoppingthe carrier.

@n the end shaft 123 of the reel is a gear 141, coacting (see Figs. 4, 5and 8) with a gear 142 on shaft 143 which is mounted in bearing 144, inthe side 126, this shaft also carrying a tension drum 145. One end or atension strap 146 is mounted on a pin 14'? extending from the side 126,the other end be ing secured as by a screw to a screwed stem 150 passingthrough a. bracket 151 on side 126. This stem carries a tightening whee152, by which pressure is adjusted on drum and transmitted through gears111 to reel 120, thus controlling the tension of reinforcement R as itunwinds. The pressure on gear 142 being decreased or increased asrequired, and the unwinding remilated, a-

reel can be removed and replaced at will, the tension remainingunaltered. This is important, as reels will become empty and can thus bechanged. The end of the reinforcement wire is secured by any approvedmeans.

At intermediate points of the winding, wire ends (if any occur) can beknotted or otherwise united or secured to the retainers as desired.

Any suitable reversing gear may be employed to travel the reel to andfro; as a well known belt drive, or the usual reversing gear carried bythe driving head and frame 100.

iVith reference to reinforcement a polygonal form will under centrifugalforce tend to approach the circular, the reinforcement tension beingthus increased, and slackness, if any, automatically eliminated. Tnorder that the retainers, with their reinforcement, may be completelyembedded in agglomerate, with a layer on their inner faces, as well ason all other faces, they may be spaced slightly from the core by spacingblocks 0 which may be either integral with them or separate from themand inserted, and either keyed to them or not. By such spacing blocksthe retainers are placed in the annular space between the core and mold.Thus, when this space is completely filled with agglomerate, theretainers will be in the aggloinerate at an appreciable distance.h'iwardly, both from the inner and outer wall of the pipe or otherhollow article.

Upon tightening of the rin segments 72 to retain the retainers 1D inposition, ready to receive reinforcement 13., this portion of theapparatus is inserted between clutches 113, 90 of the winding mechanism.Then when core C is rotated the reinforcen'ient supply carrier 120 alsotravels, at predetermined speed, to deliver reinforcement B.- underpredetern'iined tension in convolutions having a predetermined pitch,the object being to guard against all subsequent displacement of thereinforcement. l l heu the required reinforcement has been positionedand the ends secured, the rotor thus formed may be removed. 7

By means of Wires passed through holes in the retainers the latter maybe held on the core if desired.

The process of operating the illustrated mechanism is as follows: Thecore C, seats S, and any other desired parts as bars 48 are assembledand secured by nuts 50 and are then mounted between the heads 1'13, 90of the Winding mechanism, and the retainers D are positioned, with theaid of the ring formed of arcs 72. The reinforcement R is thendistributed as de- "cribed. These parts and others which therewithconstitute the rotor are then removed from the winding machine.

The rotor is then placed on bearing members of a molding machine.

I claim 1. ln agglomerate structure production apparatus, a core, aplurality of retainers located around said core, a revoluble distributorby which to position reinforcement wire bearing'on said retainers andbeing movable lengthwise of the core at a regulated speed, meansresisting the revolution of said distributor to tension said wirereinforcement, and means for fastening the ends of the wire.

Lin a machine for agglomerate structure production, core, a guide shaft,a re infer-cement distributor mounted slidably on said guide shaft, ascrew shaft which is rotatable at a predetermined speed, means to engagethe screw shaft so that the distributor shall he traveled at selectedspeed, means to disengage the same at will, and gear to applypredetermined tension to the reinforcement.

3. In agglomerate structure production apparatus, a perforatedconfiguring core, a ser'es of retainers of bar type, a reinforcementsupply director adapted to be operated at predetermined speed, arotatable screw shaft, for operating the same, and speed change gearingfor driving said shaft to feed the said reinforcement into position.

l. In agglomerate structure production apparatus, a reinforcementtensioning means and a traveling reinforcement distributor reel andgearing which co-acts with the tensioning means, to deliverreinforcement wire into position and regulate its speed, pitch, andtension during the delivery.

5. In agglomerate structure production apparatus, a travelingreinforcement distributor having a removable reel, gear carried by saidreel, arms to receive the reel, adjustable tension mechanism having gearinterlocking with the gear carried by the reel, a rotatable screw shaftpassing through the arms, intermeshing engaging and disengaging means totravel the distributor, and shafting passing through the arms.

Tn agglomerate structure production apparatus, a feed shaft, a guideshaft, a traveling reinforcement distributor reciprocable thereon,bearings carried by said distributor, means for operatively connectingsaid distributor to said feed shaft, means for securing said connectingmeans in operative relation, a rotatable reel having shafts rotating insaid bearings, and tension elements in operative connection with thereel, restraining its rotation and producing required tension onreinforcement material deiivered from said reel.

7. in agglomerate structure production apparatus, a perforate corethrough which agglomerate material may be fed centrifugally, a pluralityof retainers mounted on said core in spaced relation relatively to saidcore and to each other, means for clamping said retainers in position,and

means for inding a reinforcing element spirally about said retainers.

8. In aggloinerate structure production apparatus, a perforate core, aplurality of re miners mounted in spaced relation thereon, means forclamping said retainers in 0porative position, and means for Winding :1reinforcing element spirally about said retainers.

9. In agglomerate structure production apparatus, a perforate core, aplurality of retainers mounted in spaced relation thereon,

means for damping snidretuiners in operativo position, and means forwinding a reinforcing element spirally about said core and retainers inregularly spaced relation and under constant predetermined tension.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CHJJELES WILLIAM WATSON.

Vl itness GEORGE G. TURRI.

